The Epic Evernote Experiment is off and running. I walked my students through the sign up process and they were all able to create accounts without a problem. The kids were excited when I told them about the uses of Evernote for note-taking and the e-portfolio. Here are some of the things students said were frustrating with using traditional paper notebooks.
"Spilling coffee or pop on my notebook can destroy a year's worth of notes."
"Sometimes I bring the wrong notebook to class and then I have notes for different classes in multiple notebooks."
"Searching for specific notes for a certain test or essay can be tough."
I showed the students how all of these issues can be resolved by using Evernote. Notebooks, tagging and cloud storage allows students to take their notes and access them wherever they are. The students really jumped on board with this concept.
The kids also seemed interested in the e-portfolio aspect of Evernote. They all created their portfolio notebooks and I explained they would be saving all of their completed work here to be reviewed later. This is the only part of Evernote that will be required of my students. I have strongly encouraged my students to use Evernote for note-taking, but I don want them to use something they are not comfortable using. Plus, if they change their mind later, they can use the Doxie Scanner to move their notes into Evernote later.
I was able to take the links of the notebooks I want to share with students and email it to them at their school accounts. Trying to share through the email function of Evernote worked, but was blocked by my district's spam filter. A small hiccup, but nothing that wasn't quickly resolved.
The students will be using Evernote on the iPads on Monday for the first time, so I look forward to seeing them navigate the app. It's early in the experiment, but I like what I have seen from my students so far.
I'll keep you posted as the weeks go by.
If you are interested in getting started with Evernote on the iPad, you should check out my e-book from the iBookstore.
This sounds great. I've got some questions though.
ReplyDelete*What grade levels/ages are you working with?
Okay, here's what I'm really trying to figure out. My middle schoolers, under 13, can't legally sign up for most web tools. I'd love to have them using things like Evernote. Is there a legal work around for this? Does signing up with a school-issued email (Google account) get past the 13 requirement?
You might not know the answers but hearing your thoughts would be great.
This is EXACTLY what I'm looking for! Our high school is going 1:1 in January, and I am convinced that my English class can become paperless. Did you get your administration to buy the premium Evernote to be able to collaborate, or are you going with the free option (hoping it's the latter). Bravo or being a groundbreaker! I look forward to following!
ReplyDeleteI like it, Pal....
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to use Evernote more and more myself -- it's one of those tools that takes some time to grown on you because it requires you to rethink almost everything about the way you interact with content -- but I haven't done a ton of thinking about how to use it in classes.
Jazzed you're writing about this -- and looking forward to following your progress.
Thanks for sharing,
Bill
I am so sorry that this post is a little off topic, but I've looked everywhere for an answer to this question, and I'm kinda desperate. How can I save pdf files to Evernote? I am slowly becoming an Evernote devotee myself, and bringing it to my students is the next step!
ReplyDeleteSounds awesome! Will students only being using the class iPads or are they allowed to bring their own devices?
ReplyDeleteKnaus,
ReplyDeleteStudents can sign up for web tools if their parents have signed permission. COPA rules allow for the schools to do that.